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The UK's Biomass Energy Development Path

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The UK's Biomass Energy Development Path The UK’s Biomass Energy Development Path Sibel Korhaliller [email protected] International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) November 2010 1 Abstract Biomass energy forms an important part of the UK renewable energy portfolio in helping to achieve national carbon reductions. In 2007, it made up three per cent of the total UK energy supply and this figure is set to rise, with biomass energy due to make up just under a third of the 2020 UK renewable energy target. Biomass energy has several unique advantages over other renewable energy options: its widespread availability; relative independence from environmental fluctuations; employment intensity; and its flexibility in terms of energy carrier and diversity of supply options. Different biomass feedstocks can be harnessed via various different conversion technologies into all the major energy carriers (heat, liquid, gas and electricity) but this paper primarily focuses on electricity and heat generation – two of the most widely used forms of biomass energy in the UK. The past decade has seen a growing interest in biomass energy in the UK, though there has been criticism that the development path has so far been rather fragmented, with disjointed government support and policies. Electricity generation has received significant support through policies such as the Renewables Obligation (RO), in which newer biomass energy technologies have been favoured. Some of the UK government departments involved in biomass energy have undergone restructuring over the last few years, to increase their overall effectiveness. There are a number of biomass power plants currently in operation, and almost seven gigawatts (GW) of medium and large-scale biomass power plants now in development. Planning permission granted for the construction of so many biomass power plants, with the total estimated potential annual feedstock demand of 50-60 million tonnes, has raised public concerns. With this demand vastly exceeding the total annual UK biomass production, there are worries as to how feedstock will be developed in the UK to supply them all, or what the impacts of imported feedstock might be on livelihoods and ecosystem services elsewhere. There are growing efforts to build up different sources of biomass in the UK, such as from increased energy crop use and harvested wood fuel from currently under-managed woodlands. Waste biomass also has potential, since much of it would otherwise be sent to landfill. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings from biomass energy varies between the type of feedstock and technology used, as well as whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’ practice is adopted, but all are significantly better than fossil fuel equivalents. With many plants now relying on imported feedstock, however, there are also emissions associated with transport over long distances. Barriers to biomass energy in the UK include a weak supply chain, a lack of public awareness and a long and confusing list of grants. There are many lessons that can be drawn from the UK for application in developing countries; such as the wide variety of employment opportunities offered through biomass energy, the importance of sufficient support for sustainable supply chain development, the need for good government coordination, and finally, the development of a coherent biomass strategy. Cover pictures courtesy of Forth Energy 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 5 2 What is biomass energy? ......................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Sources of biomass ................................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Biomass energy processes .................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Cost of different sources of biomass .................................................................................... 11 3 Level of biomass energy development in the UK ................................................................. 11 3.1 Electricity generation ............................................................................................................ 12 3.2 Heat generation .................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 The UK government and biomass energy ............................................................................. 15 3.4 Biomass power plants in the UK ........................................................................................... 16 4 National sources of biomass feedstock ................................................................................ 20 5 Energy crops .......................................................................................................................... 21 5.1 Energy crop plantations in the UK ........................................................................................ 24 5.2 Impacts of growing energy crops .......................................................................................... 25 5.3 Assistance for growing energy crops .................................................................................... 26 5.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 27 6 Other sources of biomass ..................................................................................................... 27 6.1 Woodfuel .............................................................................................................................. 27 6.2 Waste biomass ...................................................................................................................... 30 7 Greenhouse gas emissions .................................................................................................... 31 7.1 Transport emissions .............................................................................................................. 33 8 Barriers to biomass energy development ............................................................................. 34 8.1 Biomass supply chain ............................................................................................................ 34 8.2 Public awareness ................................................................................................................... 35 8.3 Grants .................................................................................................................................... 36 9 Lessons for developing countries.......................................................................................... 36 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 39 Appendix 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 43 3 List of Figures 1 Pie chart showing the makeup of our electricity supply in 2009 and that predicted for 2020....... 5 2 Graph showing the rise of renewable electricity generation since 1996 ........................................ 6 3 Sources of biomass..........................................................................................................................9 4 Breakdown of the main pillars of biomass energy production ..................................................... 10 5 Renewable energy use in 2008 ...................................................................................................... 12 6 Biomass power plants currently in operation ............................................................................... 16 7 a) Medium and b) large biomass power plants under development or construction. ................. 17 8 Chart showing the estimated technical potential of different biomass feedstock.. ..................... 20 9 Bioenergy potential in the UK that could be achieved under good environmental practice. ...... 21 10 Breakdown of different energy crops. .......................................................................................... 21 11 Areas suitable for SRC growth in the UK under the UKCIP02 high-medium emissions scenario for 2020, 2050 and 2080 ................................................................................................................ 25 12 Map showing the distribution of managed and under-managed woodland in England.. ............ 29 13 Pie chart showing the estimated annual arboricultural arisings in England . ............................... 30 14 Pie chart showing waste wood arising in the UK .......................................................................... 30 15 Graph showing the variation in GHG emissions, released during the production, processing and delivery of various different types of biomass feedstock.. .................................................... 31 16 Chart showing variations in life cycle CO2 emissions for variations in fuel production and conversion efficiencies between different types of biomass and technologies........................... 32 17 Emission levels for four different scenarios of biomass energy compared to a gas-fired power station.. .........................................................................................................................................
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